ABOUT VOYAGE CHICAGO

Our small team of 40 has been working hard to create a new type of media for our community. As you browse through our stories you’ll notice that many of our interviews aren’t as polished as you’ll find elsewhere in the media. That’s intentional – we believe that far too many in the media filter, edit, and polish away the personality of interviewees and as a result so much of what we see in the media feels like it’s coming from the same person, the same voice, etc. We think it’s important for media to more authentically represent the communities they serve and so we try to ensure that voices of those we feature jump off the page.

We also think artists rock. We love small businesses, mom-n-pops, and hole-in-the-walls. We’re not snobs, but we aren’t fond of most chains. We think independent entrepreneurs, freelancers and other risk takers make our cities exciting to live in. We cherish the rebel spirit, we don’t think just a handful of large corporations should control all of our commerce and we think smores with vegan marshmallows are better than normal marshmallows. We respect people and organizations that take the path less traveled. We root for the underdogs and we almost never say no to pizza.

Accordingly our mission is build a platform that fosters collaboration and support for small businesses, independent artists and entrepreneurs, local institutions and those that make our city interesting. We want to change the way people spend their money – rather than spending it with the big, cookie-cutter corporations we want them to spend their money with the independent, creative, local entrepreneurs, small businesses and artists.

And finally, we want the stories we share to help give our big city a little bit of that small town community charm, where people know each other and their stories at a deeper, more personal level.